Ephesians 5:21 "The Principle of Submission"pt.1

Introduction:

Remember there is a context to our Scripture passage at hand this morning.

If we were to go back to the beginning of chapter 5 we would see there is an Apostolic command to be imitators of God. And as Paul expounds on what that means, we have seen that it means to walk by the leading of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God in Christ.

There is a Christ factor in everything for the Christian as we live out our lives in relationship to one another before God.

We want to know what the will of the Lord is so that our lives are led by the Spirit in order to magnify Christ for the glory of God.

Last Sunday we saw how this desire is reflected in our corporate worship in singing before God and in our expression of thanksgiving to Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 20.

Verse 21 then expresses a principle that should serve to govern our relationships to one another in the life of corporate community in the Church. Look back at your text to verse 21:

I. The Principle in the Church (21).

The term “submitting” here does not negate the reality of leadership as a necessity. We know this because the same guy who wrote the Pastoral Epistles of first and second Timothy and Titus also wrote Ephesians.

Leadership and submission to leaders is not being under-cut here but there is a relational dynamic of submission that is being established.

Submission to leadership is in place while at the same time that submission is being extended in a measure relationally to everyone.

And contextually it flows because if we are being led by the Spirit there should be a collective desire being manifested as the Holy Spirit is leading.

This is the same idea as Paul expresses in other text like Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

And text like Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Or text like Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

Just imagine that if everyone was collectively being led by the Holy Spirit to magnify Christ to the glory of God this way.

Nearly all conflict would disappear over night. Simply because everyone would be more concerned with the over-arching edification of others.

The focus would shift from self to the good of others in order to manifest Christ to the glory of God.

This is why the Bible calls for plurality among elders so this principle of submission is practiced at the elder board level as well. Determining God’s plan and purpose can be difficult for all of us and we need others to speak truth into our lives.

Because some times our motivation is prideful and not of the Spirit but of us. And even that needs to be discerned and it is difficult, especially when we live in a culture that celebrates and encourages people to have it their way.

They use advertisement slogans that express that very sentiment: “Have it your way” or “you deserve it”. We also see radical customization implemented into marketing.

I was recently visiting with Mr. Womack and we were watching a program on YouTube that was showcasing customized motor homes that sold for millions of dollars.

Why is this? Because we live in a culture and society that promotes self as the highest end when it comes to how marketing campaigns are structured.

Some churches do the same thing in how they make their appeals. But biblically when it comes to life together as the body of Christ, God is busy sanctifying the sovereignty of self out of us and replacing it with the sovereignty of God as manifested in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Christian there is sanctification to be done in our lives and life together in community is the place where the relational dynamic is contributing to that sanctification.

But notice Christian all of it is an extension of our reverence for Christ. Christ is the catalyst of our life together. That means that the individualism that is so radically promoted by the culture and society must run through Christ for transformation into the community dynamic of the Church.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work entitled “Life Together” for him was an ongoing work in that he was always thinking of what it meant to be “In Christ” and by default “In His body” for the church.

This editing process went on even when he was in prison. Listen to what Bonhoeffer says, “One who wants more than what Christ has established does not want Christian brotherhood (community). He is looking for some extraordinary social experience which he has not found elsewhere.”

The point of Bonhoeffer’s quote is that Christ has placed us in His body for His purposes and not for our own ideas of what we think our purposes may be.

Christianity is not the work and process of us trying to incorporate God into our lives. Christianity is work and process of God incorporating us into His Kingdom community through the work of Christ.

When you realize this you can see that salvation is not merely you coming to Christ but Christ coming to you. And it is by design that we as the body are collectively in Christ.

And Christ desires His collective body to be submissive to Him as He leads His body by the Spirit according to the word of God. Because in doing so, God’s will is done and that should be something that we all want to submit to one another in.

Christian I want that in spite of my brokenness and in spite of the times when my focus is on myself. I am reminded when Christ is lifted high and magnified that there is more to this life than my momentary pleasure or my temporal pain.

And most of the time God is using His people in the body to minister the truth of the magnification of Christ in my life right in the middle of the difficulties that I face.

Conclusion:

A person’s radical individualism goes to die in the presence of Christ. Maybe our marketing slogan should be, “Come and Die with Us!”

People would be saying, what are they doing over there at Crete Church?

We are learning what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ by taking up our Cross and following Him.

Unbeliever being a Christian that is engaged in discipleship in community is embracing Christ and the glory of God in community at the expense of self denial.

The Cross shows us what it means to lay your life down for the good of others better than anything. And God has raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the highest place. He is the supreme sovereign over all authority in heaven and earth.

And God commands our submission to Him. Come to Him and confess your sin and believe unto salvation. His grace is being held out to you.

Believer, Life Together can be tough because the reality of sin is something that we still deal with. The struggle with sin can hinder us at times in the body but the gospel compels us to get right with God in Christ and with one another.

Pride is always looking for excuses to make us comfortable in our sin. Christ and His gospel calls us to humility and submission to Him, and to one another also.

Confess your sin in light of His grace. We are accepted by Him by grace alone through faith alone and He has provided for us in our Life together. Let’s Pray!